It is a well-known practice in the garment industry to store expensive and relatively fragile garments with particular care, often under carefully controlled ambient conditions. Thus, for example, expensive fur coats and the like which their owners may use only seasonally or occasionally are frequently stored in temperature and humidity controlled environments. Similar practices are applied to the storage of silk dresses and gowns. Even apart from such relatively large scale storage operations, individual users also may want to store their furs, silk or other valuable garments with care. Garments such as coats and dresses typically are suspended on appropriately sized and shaped hangers from horizontal rod-like supports and it is a preferred practice to employ separators between adjacently supported garments to minimize contact between them.
A variety of garment separators are known in the art. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,556,507 to Gronauer teaches a garment separator which is essentially a conventional wire-type metal clothes hanger to which is attached a sheet of paper or fabric of heavy texture so as to provide a flat surface that is disposable between adjacently supported garments. U.S. Pat. No. 1,483,058 to Frank discloses a very similar device in which two or more thicknesses of stiff cardboard are coupled by fabric binding strips around their edges so as to include at one end a wire hanger that is suspendable between adjacently suspended dresses on a common support rod to separate adjacent garments. U.S. Pat. No. 1,741,068 to Newsom teaches a somewhat more complex structure in which a plurality of flat, thin cedar slats are connected parallel to each other by a plurality of thin, flexible fabric strips, with the entire set suspended by hooks from a conventional wooden garment hanger.
Unfortunately, such known devices employ paper, cardboard or wood, all of which are materials that can absorb odor, moisture, oily dirt, and any sprayed-on chemicals that may be present on a particular garment and, by absorption at the outer surface of the separator, be transferable to other garments that may later contact the separator. Also, devices such as those of Gronauer and Frank, being of highly limited porosity, tend to inhibit cross-circulation of cooled and filtered air which is typically utilized to maintain a controlled environment around garments such as furs. Although the device of Newsom would permit circulation across the separator body, the cedar slats can absorb dirt and odor, e.g., the smells of cosmetics or cigarette smoke, and careless handling of the wooden slats could cause the formation of splinters which may snag on and damage materials such as fur and silk.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 283,468 to Steinhilber teaches a design showing a substantially rectangular, flat sheet-like element having a transverse extension at a top cut-away corner, the device being useable as a clothes separator when supported between adjacent garments. Naturally, this being a disclosure for a design, there is no teaching of suitable materials or discussion of details of the surfaces contactable by garments, nor is there any teaching of structure to facilitate cross-ventilation across the separator. Also, judging from the design illustrated in the figures it would appear that because of the generally unsymmetrical shape of the separator it would dispose a greater width of separator surface on one side of the support rod than on the other.
There exists, therefore, a need for a garment separator that is strong, flexible and safe to use with expensive or fragile garments, does not readily absorb dirt, odor, moisture or chemicals, is not bulky and is inexpensive to produce yet easy to store when not in use. The present invention discloses and claims such a garment separator.